I have lived in London since 1997. I am a housing campaigner, a trade unionist, and a member of the East London Socialist Party.
Since my teens, I have fought for social justice. I grew up in the north of Ireland during the ‘Troubles’, where during the 1990s I was chair of the Youth Against Sectarianism and Racism campaign. I am currently a board member of the London-based, Public Interest Law Centre, which brings cases to court for individuals and grassroots groups who have been treated unfairly by public authorities.
I have campaigned on housing in London for many years. As a Peabody tenant in Southwark, I helped organise tenants’ from across the city against the housing association management’s sell-off of homes and the imposition of ‘market renting’.
I am elected chair of a housing cooperative in Newham and executive member of the London Federation of Housing Cooperatives. I helped mobilise housing coop tenants, along with council tenants, from all across London to successfully campaign against the Tories’ 2016 Housing Act, which was yet another attack on social housing.
As the Chair of the Social Housing Action Campaign (SHAC), I have worked with many tenants and housing workers across London. Amongst other things, we oppose lockdown-related evictions and unfair ‘regeneration’. We fight for rent control, secure tenancies, cladding removal to be paid for by the government, and for mass council house building.
Rent Control and Secure Tenancies
I live in Newham, one of the most deprived boroughs in London. In 2012, I set up a parents’ campaign in support of striking teachers at Stratford Academy school, successfully resulting in the bullying senior management climbing down.
I am vice-chair of Newham Trades Council, which brings togethertrade union activists throughout the borough to campaign on issues like devastating council cuts and gentrification. Recent campaigns have included supporting PPE for NHS staff battling Covid, university lecturers fighting victimisation, and teachers’ strikes against academisation.
I believe my record shows that if elected I will fight on behalf of London’s working class and disadvantaged.